Other key bills are still in their original chamber but also
making progress. Most significant is HB
352, a longstanding Ohio Chamber policy objective that makes overdo and
much-needed reforms to Ohio’s employment discrimination laws. HB 352 reforms
our confusing and burdensome employment discrimination statutes so they better
align with federal law and the laws of other states. Four attorneys that
practice in this area and who are members of the Ohio Chamber’s Employment Law
Committee testified in support of the bill in mid-November. Not a single
organization or individual testified against it. This should mean HB 352 is
ready for the House Civil Justice Committee to favorably report at its next
hearing, likely in mid-January. Following that, it will await a vote by the
full House.

More controversial is the issue of surprise medical bills.
Many employers are concerned about the burden that surprise
medical bills— those costly, unexpected bills patients get after
they receive care from an out-of-network provider they reasonably assumed was
in their network — create for their employees, and both the Senate and
the House have bills to protect patients by ending surprise billing. However,
their approaches are vastly different, and no clear path forward has yet
emerged that could garner support in both chambers. The Ohio Chamber is
supportive of taking patients out of the equation, but only if this can be done
without creating a process that would lead to increased health insurance
premiums for employers.

From a business perspective, the 2019 legislative year ended
with much positive momentum, particularly when contrasted with the first half
of the year. The challenge now will be carrying that positive momentum into
2020 and translating it into even more action – especially given that 2020 is
an election year.

An election year often means a slowing of the legislative
process, in part because incumbents seeking re-election want to be back home in
their districts interacting with their constituents more than they want to be
in Columbus working on public policy. With a St.
Patrick’s Day primary and a scheduled mid-April Spring Break – not to
mention the array of other issues with which the legislature is dealing, such
as the capital budget, gun legislation, sports gaming, school vouchers, and
drug sentencing reform – it is probably unreasonable to expect all of the Ohio
Chamber-backed bills to get done before the legislature wraps up its
pre-General Election work sometime in mid-June.

Nonetheless, when the New Year begins, you can count on the
Ohio Chamber to continue to aggressively push lawmakers to make the issues
discussed above a top priority.